Israeli fire killed at least 11 Palestinians, including two children, in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip yesterday, local health officials said, in the latest violence to undermine a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Four people, including a three-year-old boy, Yahya Al Malahi, were killed in a strike that had targeted a police vehicle in Gaza City, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said. A police officer was among the dead, while nine bystanders were wounded, some critically, it said.
In the north of the enclave, near Jabaliya, Israeli fire killed a 14-year-old child, Adam Ahmed Halaa, health authorities and his family said.
Israel’s military did not immediately provide comment on either incident.
Later yesterday, an Israeli air strike hit near a cafe in the Beach camp in western Gaza City, killing at least five people and wounding several others, health officials said. An Israeli military spokesperson said the strike targeted a Hamas fighter.
At Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa, relatives rushed to pay farewell to those killed.
Carrying his little boy in his arms, Mukhlis Al Malahi said they were leaving a relative’s wedding when the Israeli plane attacked the police vehicle.
“We got close to Timraz crossroad with Nafaq (street); then, we suddenly found something hitting us. They hit a police vehicle as we walked,” the father, whose shirt was stained with his son’s blood, told Reuters.
“What is his fault? What is his crime? He should be wearing a wedding suit at his cousin’s today, but instead, he wore a shroud stained with blood,” cried the young boy’s cousin, Hader Al Malahi.
In northern Gaza, Israel’s military said it killed a man who had approached the armistice line with Hamas, describing him as an armed fighter.
Health authorities confirmed a man had been killed in the area, without providing details.
The ceasefire that began last October halted two years of full-blown war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone that makes up well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in the remaining, narrow coastal strip.
Israel has escalated its attacks on Hamas-led police and security forces since October, killing dozens, the group’s officials in Gaza have told Reuters, accusing Israel of trying to cause chaos and anarchy.
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